Abstract [en]

An important failure mechanism in glulam beams is cracking caused by out-of-plane transverse loads. It has been demonstrated that the low transverse shear modulus G(RT) in spruce contributes to large transverse strain inhomogeneities due to the annual ring structure in combination with shear coupling effects. In the present study, improved understanding of annual ring effects is achieved by the development of a micromechanical model. It relates the functional density gradient in spruce annual rings to shear modulus GRT. The geometrical basis is a hexagonal cell model, and in shear it is demonstrated to deform primarily by cell wall bending. Full-field strain measurements by digital speckle photography (DSP) show very strong correlation with predicted shear strains at the annual ring scale. Predictions are obtained by implementation of the micromechanics model in a finite element (FE) model developed for the single cube apparatus shear specimen. The low GRT of spruce is due to the strong dependence of GRT on relative density rho/rho(s)(G(RT) proportional to (rho/rho(s))(3)). This is particularly important in spruce. Even though average density is typically quite high, the functional gradient structure includes local densities as low as 200 kg/m(3).

Modén, Carl S.

Abstract [en]

Transverse mechanical properties of wood are important in many practial applications and an interesting scientific subject. A very low transverse shear modulus has been identified in spruce, which causes large strain concentrations in wood structures. In this thesis, experimental characterization of local density variations as well as local strain fields are carried out using the SilviScan apparatus and digital speckle photography, respectively. This is combined with micromechanical modeling based on hexagonal wood cells in combination with finite element analysis. Problems addressed include the moduli in the transverse plane, including variations at the scale of individual annual rings. The relative importance of cell wall bending and stretching deformation mechanisms is analysed as a function of wood cell geometry, relative density and direction of loading (radial, tangential and shear). Transverse anisotropy is also analyzed, including its dependency of earlywood and latewood characteristics. The wood cell shape angle variation and density effects are sufficient to explain transverse anisotropy in softwoods (no ray effects), and the influence of earlywood/latewood ratio is explained. As a practical test method for shear modulus measurements, an off-axis compression test with full-field strain determination is proposed. The advantage is a simple fixture and large region of representative strain required for a heterogeneous material such as wood. As an alternative, the single cube apparatus (SCA) for shear tests is evaluated. The SCA is used to determine the shear strain distribution within the annual rings. Based on the density distribution of the shear test specimen and a micromechanics model, a finite element model is developed, and predictions are compared with the measured shear strains. The agreement between predicted and measured shear strains at the annual ring scale are remarkably good. It shows that the low GRT of spruce is due to the low earlywood density and the large cell wall bending deformation resulting from shear loading. Furthermore, it illustrates the need for improved understanding of annual ring scale effects. For example, fairly low transverse global loads will lead to lage local shear strains.